The Restaurant Guys

About Lava Lake Lamb

One of the ways to get the best tasting food that is also best for you is to eat food that is raised well in an old fashioned way. That goes for tomatoes and corn. That goes for lamb. When you raise a lamb like this, it should be no surprise that it's going to taste about a million times better than meat from an animal raised in a modern Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO).

Lava Lake Ranch sits just outside Sun Valley, Idaho. The grass-fed lambs range freely over nearly one million acres of high mountain rangeland, raised with care by seasoned shepherds in much the same way they have been raised for centuries. They graze on the natural bounty of a vast and biologically diverse landscape. The result: The lambs are fit, healthy and they get to live like...lambs. They also make some of the most delicious, tender, nutrient-rich meat you will find. It's taste is of the mountain grasses and herbs it eats its whole life. These lambs are raised on their mother's milk. Lava Lake also does not employ added hormones, antibiotics, herbicides or insecticides. I wish all food was raised like this.

A Lamb and Tequila Party at Stage Left, with Lava Lake Lamb and Milagro Tequila

Sunday, August 2 - Stage Left

Summer Lamb Chili $12
Mint, Lime, Cilantro, White Beans, Jalapeno-Cornbread Croutons

Lamb Ribs $29
Garlic Chive Pesto, Blue Corn Grits, Lime Charred Corn

Truffled Pulled Lamb Sandwich $19
House Baked Bread

Loin of Lamb $39
Dreyer’s Farm Haricot Vert, Blue Corn Grits
Radish, Pickled Garlic, Roasted Garlic Lamb Jus

In Addition to Lamb This Sunday... Milagro Tequila Snow Cones and More with Ancho Reyes Ancho-Chile Licor!

We're open our normal Sunday hours of 4 - 9 PM
Make a reservation here or call 732-828-4444

Milagro Tequila Snow Cones and More with Ancho Reyes Ancho-Chile Licor!

    Sunday, August 2 - Stage Left

So the cocktail world is obsessed with ice and how much different kinds of ice affect your cocktail. For years this was a neglected area. Remember ice-melt can account for 30% of a finished cocktail, but the pendulum may have swung a little far the other way, with hand carved ice spears from designer water. But there is no denying that ice matters in texture, temperature and taste.

One of the more extreme examples of possible ice texture is the fine snowflake shavings of a snow cone. Every kid knows the magic of slurping a freshly shaved snow cone on a hot summer's day. We'll why not add even a little more mágico with the addition of drinks based in Milagro's fine tequila and the new Ancho Reyes Chile Licor. A touch of spicy heat is thrilling in a snow cold background.

We know that tequila works well in icy drinks (see: frozen margarita) but you have no idea how well it works when expertly deployed in a snow cone! We would like to show you. Come in Sunday and taste for yourself on us. If you like, additional snow cones $5.

The Red Snow Cone Tequila
Por Mi Amante (made from Milagro & fresh, local strawberries per Charles Baker's Gentleman's Companion)
Ancho Reyes Licor
House Made Pomegranate Grenadine

The Blue Snow Cone
Milagro Single Barrel Reserve Tequila Blueberry Syrup (made from the best local blueberry harvest in years.)

The Pink Snow Cone
Milagro Single Barrel Reserve Tequila
Ancho Reyes Licor
Watermelon Shrub (made from fresh local watermelons)

The Virgin Snow Cone (safe for the kids)
House-Made Pomegranate Grenadine

We're open our normal Sunday hours of 4 - 9 PM
Make a reservation here or call 732-828-4444

The Spirits Project: Guillon-Painturaud Renaissance Cognac

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $499
  
• Thursday, July 30 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $14

The Guillon-Painturaud family has occupied their property since the early 1600s. It' not a large estate; about 38 acres of vineyard. They started selling the family’s Cognac under their own name in the early 1970’s. Prior to that, they had sold their cognac to the large houses for blending. The grapes are harvested from the family’s 18 hectare vineyard of Ugni Blanc. The family's vineyard holdings are all in one plot, in the Grande Champagne area of Cognac. The juice obtained from pressing the grapes was fermented into wine which is distilled twice and aged in oak barrels (from the Limousin and Troncais forests in France).

We've taken on several of their bottlings (including an excellent pineau de charantes). The cognac in this bottle is an average 40 years old. It is uncommon, rare old brandy from a tiny little family producer with four hundred years experience. I look forward to sharing it with you Thursday at 6:30 precisely.

Next Week in The Spirits Project:
August is Going to Be Bourbon Month in The Spirits Project
Pappy Van Winkle Will Be Making an Appearance
Stay Tuned

The big news this week: Jersey Corn!

It's turning out to be a great year for Jersey produce. The big news last week was this year's incredible blueberries, which are still coming in. The big news this week: Jersey Corn!

While you have been able to get super-sweet varieties in the supermarket, the older varieties of Jersey Corn have just started in full swing. While the modern super-sweets are sweet indeed, they don't taste very much of corn. The old varieties taste very much of the essence of corn.

There is an old adage on how to cook corn:

1. get the water boiling
2. go outside and pick the corn
3. run to the boiling pot.

That's because the sugars in them are unstable and quickly begin to convert to starch, the moment the corn is harvested. We think it's more than worth it, so we'll be starting our corn menu this Sunday, July 26th.

The menu will be offered in Stage Left starting Monday and through the following week.

Restaurant Week Extended in Catherine Lombardi

New Brunswick Restaurant Week will end on Saturday, July 25. We've decided to extend the Restaurant Week Menu in Catherine Lombardi through August 2.

Catherine Lombardi Restaurant Week Menu
$35

Choice of Appetizer
Daily Soup
Fresh Mozzarella
Salad of Arugula and Parmigiano-Reggiano

Entrée
Garganelli with Truffle Cream, Prosciutto, Asparagus (add Chicken $8.95 or Scallops $12.95)
Long Fusilli with Walnut Basil Pesto Cream (add chicken $8.95)
Eggplant Parmigiana with Sauteed Spinach and Marinara
Lobster Ravioli with Tarragon Cream Sauce
Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Ravioli
Spaghetti & Meatballs with Marinara
Chicken Marsala with Arugula
Manicotti with Marinara

Dessert
Zabaglione
Mascarpone Cheesecake
Mrs. Palmisano’s Cookie Plate
Sorbet

For reservations click here or dial 732-828-4444

Stage Left's Jersey Corn Menu

Beginning Monday, July 27

Corn Gazpacho

*

Ricotta Gnocchi
Dreyer Farm’s Pickled Corn, Popcorn, Corn Cream

*

Snapper with Corn and Crab Chowder
Truffled Cream Corn, Hush Puppies and Corn Succotash

*

Corn Ice Cream Sundae
Caramel Corn and Salted Caramel

$49 plus tax and service
Make a reservation here or by calling 732-828-4444

Party on Pig Roast with Pisco Porton, Sunday, July 26

Our friends from Pisco Porton will be sponsoring our first pig roast of the summer, this Sunday. If you don't know about pisco you should. If you know about pisco, you know that Porton is the hallmark of quality. Pisco is an un-oaked, clear brandy from Chile or Peru. It has a long history and was an important part of the American Cocktail canon before Prohibition. It's the basis of the pisco sour, which is the most famous and popular cocktail in Latin America, and that's just the start.

Porton founder Johnny Schuler has upped the game for this category and created a spirit that is truly remarkable. A former race car driver, professional golfer, caterer, and restaurateur, Johnny himself is a force of nature. Check out his video here. Everything he says in the video is real and true, not just marketing hype. The juice is really in the bottle.

Sunday, we'll be serving Pisco Sours and Pisco Punch all made exclusively with Porton for just $9. The first one's on the house. Pisco on the sidewalk - perfect!

We'll be roasting our pig through the afternoon and the doors will open at 4 PM. Roasted Pig will be offered with Jalepeno Corn Bread and Truffled Creamed Corn for $19.

Make a reservation here or by calling 732-828-4444

The Spirits Project: Milagro Unico Tequila

Making the experience of super-luxury spirits crazily affordable and accessible!
Read more about the Spirits project.

• Suggested retail price: $299
  
• Thursday, July 23 (for as long as it lasts), we're pouring a one-ounce pour for $9

Milagro is an innovative Tequila brand. It was started by two friends who grew up in Mexico City, Daniel Schneeweiss and Moises Guindi. Though the brand has been around for less than 20 years, they're doing some excellent work and it's really very good Tequila. We use Milagro tequila behind the bar quite a bit and on Sunday, August 2nd, we're going to have quite the Milagro party (featuring the Milagro snow cone machine)!

This is their flagship bottling. In Unico, they blend older Reposado and Anejo Tequila in with the younger, fresher tequila. The older Tequila would normally add some color to the finished product, but they have decided to filter the color back to white. This is a practice that has been quite fashionable in the rum world, but it's the first I've seen it in Tequila. This should be an exciting bottle to try. I look forward to sharing it with you Thursday at 6:30 precisely.

Next Week in The Spirits Project: Castarede Armagnac 1980

NJ Summer Fare

Well, the Fourth of July has come and gone. I guess we're really into summer now. We have the first sightings of corn and tomatoes. These will only grow in abundance and variety as the season marches on. Look for a Corn Menu in Stage Left, which we're hoping to begin Sunday, July 26th and to run for at least a week. We'll do a Tomato menu a week or so after that. But, with all things agricultural, we'll wait for nature to tell us the precise timing.

While lobster is available all year round, we're especially excited to consume our favorite crustacean in summer. This coming Sunday in Stage Left, we are going to have another of our increasingly popular Lobster Sundays.